Artificial bait or fish lure



June 1, H935. a. MILNER 2,005,554

ARTIFICIAL BAIT OR FISH LURE Filed Nov. 2, 1933 INVENTQR BER TRAMM/L/VER,

Patented June 18, I935 UNITED'STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTIFICIAL BAIT R,FISH LURE Bertram Milner, St. Bernard, Ohio Application November 2,1933, Serial No. 696,345

10 Claims. (01. 43-42) This invention relates to improvements inartiunderstood that the invention is not limited to ficial fish bait orfish lures and particularly to this form. This head or body portion 10is made the submerged types of said articles. of a relatively heavymetal and preferably cast of The principal object of this inivention isthe one of the lead compounds which includes a provision of such a lurethat very nearly re-' relatively large amount of tin so as to be fairly5 sembles live water animals which is the natural tough and willtherefore not readily be cut by food of the fish. rocks and the like onthe bed of the water.

Another object of this invention is the pro- Cast into the body II] arethe eyes II which in vision of an improved fish lure which when thefinished form are painted a color contrastbeing drawn through the watershifts and darts ing with the color of the body. From the eyes 10relative thereto in such a manner as to very H O 0f the head, the yportion of closely resemble the movements of the water the bait is somwhat coni l in sh pe and rmianimals which are the natural food of thefish. nates in the lips l3 and M. It will be noted that A further objectof the present invention is the lower lip I4 protrudes considerablyahead the provision of an artificial bait or fish lure of t upp p andthe pose therefor 15 that will accomplish the above objects but willwill be described later. have sufficient weight for casting and thelike. 011 e Side Of the bo y Portion s a gTOOVe A still further objectof this invention is the i5 which represents the mouth of the fish head.provision of an artificial bait or fish lure that This gro ve r m ut exnds w d y a will accomplish the above objects and, in which, downwardlyfrom the lips and terminates in an 20 while shifting and darting throughthe water in upward Curve ThiS groove is of an pp simulation of a livebaits movement, will be ciable depth and assists in effecting the lifeprevented from making complete revolutions like movements of the lure aswill later be made about the axis of the fishing line and thereby clear.

prevent a twisting of said line. The body portion ll from the eyes H orcrown 25 Other objects and advantages of the present l2 extendsrearwardly at a very slight angle invention should be readily apparentby referand has a cross section somewhat ovate. As ence to the followingspecification taken in will be seen from Figure 3 this portion ll of theconjunction with the accompanying drawing, lure terminates in a bluntend l8 for the upper 0 and it should be understood that any modificahalfand has-the lower half extended well betion may be made in the exactstructural details yond the blunt end I8 as shown at l9. there shown anddescribed within the scope of Projecting from between the lips l3 and Mthe appended claims without departing from, is a mouth piece 20preferably formed from a or exceeding the spirit of, the invention. fiatpiece of non-corrosive material. As will be In the drawing; seen fromFigure 4 the mouth piece 20 is some- 35 Figure 1 is a side elevationalview of the imwhat spade shaped and terminates at one end provedartificial bait or fish lure. in a substantial point 2! through which isFigure 2 is an end elevational view of the lure pierced a hole 22 forattaching the lure to the illustrated inFigure 1 as particularly seenfrom fishing line. At its other end the mouth piece the line 2 2 ofFigure 1. is integral with a shank 23 which terminates in 40 Figure 3 isa side elevational View of the ima tongue 26. The lateral sides 25 and26 of the proved device of this invention prior to the atmouth piece areadapted to be turned down taching thereto of the body and tail feathers.thereby giving the mouth piece a transverse Figure 4 is a plan view ofthe improved mouth curve with the portion of the mouth piece bepiece ofthis invention and forming a detail of tween the lateral sides 25 and 26substantially 45 the invention. plane as at 26a. It will further benoted that Throughout the several views of the drawing the said plane ofthe mouth piece is substansimilar reference characters are employed totially a continuation of the mouth or mouth denote the same or similarparts. grooves l5.

The artificial bait or fish lure of the present Projecting from the rearof the body portion 50 invention comprises a body portion it] in the ITis the usual hook 21 having the axis of its' form of a head of somewater animal which is shank disposed slightly above the axis through thenatural food for fish and the like. The parthe lure as a whole. Thebarbed end 29 of the ticular form chosen for illustrative purposes ishook turns upwardly and overlies the lure as a the head of asmall fishor minnow, but it is to be whole. The inner end of the hook shank 28 55is provided with the usual eye 30 indicated by dotted line in Figure 3.This eye receives the tongue 24 of the mouth piece 20 which is turnedupwardly to form a hook also shown in dotted line at 3| in Figure 3. Inpractice the mouth piece 20 and hook 21 are assembled by inserting thetongue 24 of the mouth piece through the eye of the hook and these partsare then placed in a mold. The entire lure body 10 is then poured aroundthe joint of the hook with the mouth piece. The completed lure has onlythe spade portion of the mouth piece projecting from the lure and themajor portion of the fish hook shank 28. From this it will be seen thatin final form the lure is of a substantially unitary construction sothat there is no opportunity for the parts to be separated in the eventan obstruction, snag or the like is encountered during the retrieving ofthe lure. At the same timecentrifugal force due to casting will in nowise jar or loosen the parts, thereby indefinitely prolonging the lifeof the lure.

Surrounding the body portion [1 of the lure from a point justbehind thecrown and substantially encircling the hook 21 are feathers 32 whichwhen wet cling to one another to form the body of the minnow or the likewhich the lure is simulating. The barbed end 29 of the hook, however, isexposed above the said body feathers 32. The body feathers 32 areattached to the lure body In by means of a collar 33 formed of string,thread or the like which is wrapped around the ends of the feathers andthe lure body a number of times. Additionally, and secured beneath thebody feathers 32, are the tail feathers 34 which project beyond the saidbody feathers 32 and form the tail of the minnow or other animal when inthe water.

The operation of the artificial bait or fish lure is as follows. Thebait is cast into a body of water and immediately reeled in, while ittends to sink to the bed thereof. As is usual the bait is thencontinuously reeled in for drawing the lure through the water. Thismovement of the lure is of course head-on wherefore the water strikesthe under surface of the plane portion 26a of the mouth piece causingthe lure to plane through the water. This water is engaged by thesubstantially blunt projecting end of the lower lip l4 causing same toseparate and engage in the mouth grooves I5. The mouth grooves I5 aswill be seen from the drawing are in a substantially straight line withthe plane portion 26a of the mouth piece. The force of the water actingon these grooves has a tendency to cause the lure to dart ofi to oneside. This tendency is picked up and amplified by the down turned ends25 and 26 of the mouth piece. This darting, semi-rolling and oscillatingis effected rapidly first on one side and then on the other giving tothe lure a very life like movement. As was'pointed out above, the lowerlip l4 projects considerably ahead of the upper lip l3 of the front endof the lure, while projecting beyond the rear or blunt end I8 of thelure is the portion 19. Each of these parts is disposed below the hookand therefore below the major axis of the lure as whole. This additionalweight and slightly off center construction combined with the bodyfeathers 32 definitely prevent the complete rotation of the lure whilebeing retrieved and drawn through thewater. In the other words thisadditional weight and body feathers limit the rotation of the lure whiledarting through the water and thereby prevent a twisting of the line.From this it will be seen that the fish line will at all times be inperfect condition thereby, regardless of the number of times a cast ismade, and will prevent a snarl or back lash in the line on subsequentcasts as would occur if the lure were rotated while being retrieved.From the foregoing it will also be evident that no auxiliary equipmentsuch as swivels and the like will be necessary between the lure and theline to prevent this twisting of the line thereby eliminating amechanism that is frequently obnoxious to the fisherman.

It should also be noted that the lure is of a substantially unitaryconstruction and of a material that will not be readily damaged by rockand the like that may be encountered on the bed of a body of water.

What is claimed is:

1. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a bodyportion representing the head of a small water animal, the said bodyportion having formed therealong grooves representing the mouth thereof,a mouth piece projecting from the mouth and having a transverse curve,said mouth piece and mouth grooves cooperating with one another toeffect lifelike darts of the lure through the water while beingretrieved, and a hook projecting from the body portion at the rearthereof and having its barbed end disposed in a plane above said bodyportion.

2. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a bodyportion representing the head of a small water animal, the said bodyportion having formed therealong grooves representing the mouth thereof,a mouth piece projecting from the mouth and having a transverse curve,said mouth piece and mouth grooves cooperating with one another toeffect lifelike darts of the lure through the water while beingretrieved, a hook projecting from the body portion at the rear thereofand having its barbed end disposed in a plane above said body portion,projections extending from each end of the body portion to provideadditional weight at the bottom of the lure, and feathers secured tosaid body portion and substantially encircling the body portion and hookand cooperating with the weighted lower portion of the lure to prevent acomplete rotation of the lure about its major axis while planing throughthe water.

3. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a hookhaving a barbed end and an eye, a mouth piece connected with the hookeyeand having an enlarged end, and a cast metal body portion formed aroundthe joint of the mouth piece and hook, thereby forming a substantiallyhomogeneous structure with the barbed end of the hook projecting fromone end of the body portion and the enlarged head of the mouth-pieceprojecting from the other end of the body portion.

4. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a hookhaving a barbed end and an eye, a mouth piece connected with the hookeyeand having an enlarged end, and a cast metal body portion formed aroundthe joint of the mouth piece and hook, thereby forming a substantiallyhomogeneous structure with the barbed end of the hook projecting fromone end of the body portion and the enlarged head of the mouth pieceprojecting from the other end of the body portion, said projectingenlarged end of the mouth piece being provided with a trans- 7| versecurve and having a hole pierced therein for attaching the lure to a fishline. 1

5. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a hookhaving a barbed end and an eye, a mouth piece connected with the hookeyeand having an enlarged end, and a cast metal body portion formed aroundthe joint of the mouth piece and hook, thereby forming a substantiallyhomogeneous structure with the barbed end of the hook projecting fromone end of the body portion and the enlarged head of the mouth pieceprojecting from the other end of the body portion, said projectingenlarged end of the mouth piece being provided with a transverse curveand having a hole pierced therein for attaching the lure to a fish line,and grooves formed in the sides of the body portion coopcrating with thetransversely curved mouth piece forpausing the lure to efiect lifelikedarts through the water.

6..In'a fish lure of the class described the combination of a cast bodyportion in the form of a minnow head having grooves formed along thesides thereof representing the mouth, lip portions above and below themouth grooves, and a transversely curved mouth piece projecting frombetween the lips.

7. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of acast bodyportion in the form of a minnow head having grooves formed along thesides thereof representing the mouth, lip portions above and below themouth grooves, a transversely curved mouth piece projecting from betweenthe lips, a fish hook projecting from the rear end of the body portionand body feathers secured to the (body portion and projecting rearwardlytherefrom for substantially enclosing the fish hook but permitting thebarbed end thereof to be exposed, the lower lip profecting ahead of theupper lip and underlying the mouth piece, and a projection extendingfrom the rear end of the body portion, said projecting lip andrearwardly projecting body portion cooperating to increase the weight ofthe lower portion of the lure and said increased lower portion of thelure cooperating with the body feathers to prevent a complete rotationof the lure while being retrieved through the water.

8. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a cast bodyin the form of a water animal, a fish hook about which the body is castand having an eye portion and a-barbed portion, and a plate membersecured to the hook eye, the barbed end of the hook projecting from therear of the'body and the plate member projecting ahead of the body.

9. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a cast bodyin the form of the ting life like darts and movements of the lure assame is being drawn through the water.

10. In a fish lure of the class described the combination of a cast bodymember in the form of the head of a water animal and having its majoraxis extending in the direction of its length along a linerepresentative of the line of movement of the lure as it is being drawnthrough the water, said body member having a groove formed along eachside thereof and representing the mouth a fish hook projecting from therear of the body member and having its barbed end in a plane overlyingthe body, a plate ahead of the body member and projecting from saidmouth thereof for causing life like darts of the lure --in the water asit is being drawn therethrough, and body feathers secured to the bodymember and substantially enclosing the hook, the greater portion of theweight of the body member being below its major axis so that the sameco-operates with the body feathers to prevent a complete rotation of thelure about its major axis while being drawn or retrieved through thewater.

BERTRAM MILNER.

